USC Shoah Foundation Visual History Archive: Czechoslovakia

Established in 1994 to preserve the audio-visual histories of survivors and other witnesses of the Holocaust, the USC Shoah Foundation maintains one of the largest video digital libraries in the world: the Visual History Archive (VHA).

Czechoslovakia

Founded in 1918 after the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Czechoslovakia comprised three distinct areas: the Czech lands, Slovakia, and Podkarpatská Rus province (Subcarpathian Ukraine). In the context of the Holocaust, Czechoslovakia has a diverse and regionally specific history, and each area is well represented in the interviews of the Visual History Archive.

Over 5,300 interviewees were born here: around 1,000 in the Czech lands; 1,900 in Slovakia, and 2,400 in Podkarpatská Rus. More than 10,600 witnesses discuss their experiences in Czechoslovakia before, during, and after the war. The USC Shoah Foundation conducted 567 interviews in the CzechRepublic, 664 in Slovakia, and around 90 in Subcarpathian Ukraine. The collection includes 566 interviews in the Czech language and 573 in Slovak.

The territorial ambitions of Nazi Germany had a decisive impact on Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II. The country was partitioned into three distinct parts as a result of German involvement, either directly or indirectly. In October 1938, Nazi troops occupied the Sudetenland (the annexation is described at length in 77 testimonies); in March of the following year, Hitler proclaimed the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (220 testimonies). Also that March, Slovakia declared independence, becoming a puppet state of Nazi Germany. The separation was complete when in November 1938 and March 1939, Hungary annexed the whole of Podkarpatská Rus province and a strip of southern Slovakia (described specifically in 668 testimonies).

Many fled. Some of those who reached the United Kingdom, where the government-in-exile was established, went on to fight in Czechoslovak units of the British Army; others who went east enlisted with the Czechoslovak division set up in the Soviet Army in 1941. These units are discussed in 161 testimonies.

For testimonies about the CzechLands and Sudetenland, see the entry for Czech Republic.

For testimonies about the Hungarian-annexed areas of southern Slovakia (Felvidék), see the entry for Slovakia and Hungary. For testimonies about the Hungarian-annexed areas of eastern Czechoslovakia (Podkarpatská Rus province, aka Subcarpathian Ukraine or Kárpátalja), see the entry forUkraine and Hungary.